Before sitting down for talks, Mathew Oloyede, civil asset manager at the deep-water port of Lekki in Lagos, Nigeria, joined China Daily reporters on a tour of the $1. 1 billion infrastructure on a 90-hectare segment of coastal land.
As they admired the vast expanse of the port from the most sensitive ship-to-shore crane operating in the port, Oloyede said it was his first time climbing the crane because he was afraid of heights.
Oloyede began his career as a young engineer in 2008 after graduating, and was fortunate enough to find a job at the Nigerian branch of global production company Tolaram Group.
In 2020, when China Harbour Engineering Company and Tolaram Group began construction of the deep-water port of Lekki, Oloyede had a wonderful opportunity when he was appointed to work on the project.
“I studied a bachelor’s degree in architecture and have a master’s degree in housing and structure development. So, it’s a great opportunity for me to work on the site while building the only deep-water port in Nigeria and West Africa. “.
Oloyede has experienced a great expansion in her career and in her private life from an early age. He has risen from Project Manager to Project Coordinator and now holds the position of Civil Property Manager overseeing the port’s civil assets.
The engineer attributes his career to the opportunities presented by port construction.
“One of my life philosophies is that your environment determines who you are. In Nigeria, we have very few specialists in maritime infrastructure. When I started working in the port, I was fortunate to have the mentorship of several experienced maritime architects, some of whom had worked in Holland and some in China, and they helped me progress in my career,” he said.
According to him, his greatest merit was the possibility of working with Chinese engineers interested in conceptualization, simulation and education as the port task progressed.
He said the structure of the port is an opportunity to enrich Nigeria’s engineering wisdom, as local engineers can witness and receive information on how to set up such a large infrastructure from its design to its structure and operation.
In addition to moving up in the career ladder, the engineer added that his personal life has also seen some notable changes. A proud father of two daughters, he started his family while working on the project, which provided him with financial stability at a time when it was difficult to locate paintings in Nigeria.
“With professional development, I’ve also witnessed an increase in salaries,” she said.
Oloyede believes that the expansion opportunities generated through the port are important, as it can generate direct and indirect jobs for up to 170,000 people.
“As the first deep-water port in West Africa, I know that the port will eventually turn our country into a maritime hub in the region with a huge positive effect on our economy. “We haven’t provided before in Nigeria, such as transshipment, where a larger vessel can dock at Lekki Port and we move the shipment to several other smaller vessels as they move the goods farther away,” Oloyede said.
The multi-purpose port was completed on time despite the COVID-19 pandemic. It includes well-designed maritime infrastructure such as container, dry and liquid bulk terminals, which were built in a record time of two years, between 2020 and 2022. It also has 3 berths for containers, 3 berths for liquids and a berth for dry bulk.
otiato@chinadaily. com. cn